Igniter.



H. L. ALLEN.

' IGNITEB.

APPLIOATIOI-I FILED JULY 28, 1911.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

UNITE area crate.

IGNITEB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Apr. 3Q, 1912.

Application filed July 28, 1911. Serial No. 641,029.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HORACE L. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Okmulgee, in the county of Okmulgee and State of Oklahoma,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Igniters, of whichthe following is a specification.

In using explosives for shooting gas or oil wells, it has heretoforebeen customary to ignite the load by an electric spark caused by wiringleading from batteries located on the ground. The electric wire had tobe insulated and was of considerable expense and furthermore interferedwith the filling of sand over the load usually employed in order toobtain the greatest possible effect from the explosion. It sometimesbecame necessary to remove the load and wiring and, in so doing, thewire insulation invariably became spoiled and had to be renewed beforethe load could be used again.

The object of this invention is to provide an electric igniting devicewhich carries the battery with it and can be readily put down in a welltogether with high explosives which are generally used, such asnitroglycerin, or the like, thereby avoiding much trouble and expenseincurred by the old system.

A further object of the invention is to provide a water-tight inclosureto contain the battery and a timing piece peculiarly arranged toregulate the time of the explosion.

F or a full understanding of the present invention, reference is to behad to the fol lowing description and to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the device comprising thepresent invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view with the cover removed.

Throughout the following detail description and on the severalfigures'of the drawings, similar parts are referred to by like referencecharacters.

Referring to the drawings, at- 1 is indicated a non-conductive casing inthe form of an elongated glass tube closed at one end and containing adry battery 2 having the conductive wires 3 and 4 leading therefrom. Aclosure 1' is provided for the tube.

The glass tube is somewhat higher than the battery, thereby providing aspace 5 at the top. In said space is located a time piece 6 resting on apartition 7 which is of the same diameter as the inside of the glasstube,

and held in place by frictional contact with the walls of said tube.

The time piece 6 may be of any ordinary construction such as aninexpensive watch and through the conductive casing of said timepiece,the current is led to the contact point 11.

The wire 13 is drawn down through an opening 15 in the bottom of thetube 1 to an exploding cap 16, then back through the opening 15 andconnected to one pole 17 on the battery. The wire 3 is connected to theother pole of the battery. To accommodate the circuit wiring, thepartition 7 has openings 7 made therein.

In operation, the timepiece is wound in the usual manner by a key, notshown, and the revolving contact point 11, and the latter is adjusted toany point ahead of the contact point 10 to give the desired time beforethe explosion which takes place when the circuit is closed by thecontact points coming together.

It is, of course, understood that the exploding cap 16 is attached to,or otherwise in contact with the explosive used in the shootingoperation. When the explosive, together with the igniter is located inthe well to be operated upon, the opening above the igniter ispreferably filled with sand or other suitable substance to give thegreater force to the explosion and this is facilitated by the use ofthis igniter because there is no obstructive wiring leading uptherefrom, as is the case when using the old system of igniting.

In the old system when the pipes made up of several sections by whichthe explosive is conducted down into the well are removed,- the ignitingwires interfere with the removal of said pipe'sections. Further, itoften happens that fluid in the well will rise and have to be removedbefore shooting and the igniting wires then interfere with the removalof said fluid, and when the pipe sections are withdrawn the wire willsometimes become damaged, causing great trouble in removing theexplosive. These disadvantages will be avoided by the present invention.

Having thus described my invention,

what is claimed as newvis:

1. An explosive igniter for shooting gas or oil wells, the samecomprising an elongated casing adapted to be intro ap roximate to itsclosed end, a time contro ed device adjacent to the detachable cover'andbetween said cover and the battery and substantially in alinement withthe latter, the time cont-rolled device comprising .a movable contactand a stationary contact insulated from said device, circuit wiring ucedinto; the well, a detachable closure at one end of a the casing, abattery arranged in said casing 2. An igniter' for exploding gas or oilwells comprising an elongated casing adapted to be introduced into theoil well, said casing being closed at one end and having a detachablecover at its opposite end, a battery arranged in the casing adjacent toits closed end, a partition arranged in the casing and holding saidbattery from displacement, and a time controlled device supported bysaid artition and including a body of conductive substance stationarycontact insulated from said body, and a movable contact electricallyconnected with the body for cooperation with the stationary contact, andcircuit wires, one of which is connected to the insulated contactaforesaid and to the battery and extending through the partition to apoint of connection with the battery, the other circuit wire beingelectrically connected to the body of the time controlled device and tothe battery.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HORACE L. ALLEN.

' Witnesses:

G. E. CAssrrY, WM. H. CRUME.

